Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Larry King has been a leading media figure for decades. His CNN talk showLarry King Liveaired for twenty-five years, and in that time, King visited the UFO subject several times. The show ended in mid-2010, but in July 2012, King launched a new talk show on the web titledLarry King Now. And after just one month of being back “on the air,” King is exploring the UFO topic once again.

On August 20, the episode of Larry King Now focused entirely on UFOs. King’s guests on the show were UFO researcher and filmmaker James Fox, musician and UFO researcher Tom DeLonge, and Michael Shermer, the executive director of the Skeptics Society and publisher of Skeptic magazine.

King points out at the beginning of the episode that he has been exploring the topic of UFOs for fifty years.

One of the UFO photos taken by Paul Trent in McMinnville. (Credit: Paul Trent/UFO Photo Archives)

Early in the episode, King shows his guests one of the famous UFO photographs taken by Paul Trent in McMinnville, Oregon in 1950. Shermer quickly chimes in, “Looks like a hubcap to me.” But Fox explains, “I actually have an interview with the witnesses on camera about this. Paul said it was a case where three photographs were taken, there were multiple eyewitnesses, obviously points of reference, broad daylight, crystal clear, totally in focus. Under scientific scrutiny in the Condon report, the scientific study that was done by prominent scientists, they concluded that this was a real object, roughly twenty-to-thirty feet in diameter, a silvery metallic object that flew within sight of two witnesses. That was subjected to rigorous scientific analysis.”

King brings up two recent instances where officials have made headlines by talking about the alleged Roswell, New Mexico UFO crash of 1947. He first mentions retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Dick French, who recently spoke about UFOs in an exclusive interview with Open Minds. King also mentions former CIA officer Chase Brandon, who recently asserted that he stumbled on evidence in CIA possession that confirmed to him that “there was a craft from beyond this world that crashed at Roswell.” King gets Brandon on the phone, and asks what exactly he saw in the box. After dodging the question, King says, “I’m going to cut to the ‘Chase’ here. Do you believe in UFOs?” Brandon responds that he absolutely believes “we were visited many times in the past by visitors” who came and assisted humans with math, science, and technologies. James Fox asks Brandon, “Did you have confirmation in that folder that Roswell was an extraterrestrial space craft?” Brandon answers, “I saw what validated my long-held belief that Roswell was as it was reported and I believe as many millions, if not hundreds of millions of people do that we are not alone in this vast cosmos.”

There are many instances in the episode where the guests talk over each other and have difficulty voicing their thoughts and opinions without being interrupted. Sadly, this is typical of any dialog where both skeptics and proponents are present. Tom DeLonge astutely points out that skeptic Michael Shermer “seems angry” and Delonge comments, “You’re so biased on one side, and that scares me too.”

DeLonge has researched UFOs since the mid-1990s. He appeared on the radio program Coast to Coast AM in December 2011, and he displayed an impressive level of UFO knowledge. And during his appearance on Larry King Now, he again showed just how well-read he is on the subject.

Larry King is clearly fascinated by UFOs. And by continuing to feature the topic on his show, he obviously feels the subject merits serious dialog.

About the author

Jason McClellan is an editor and contributing writer for Open Minds magazine. Jason is also the Producer and Co-Host of the weekly web series Spacing Out!, Web Media/Content Manager and Contributing Writer for OpenMinds.tv, and Co-Organizer and Technical Producer of the International UFO Congress. Follow Jason on Twitter @acecentric